O-430

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Augustin Norbert Morin

Portrait of Speaker Augustin-Norbert Morin

Augustin-Norbert Morin was born in 1803 in Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Quebec. He was widely admired, and regarded as so level-headed that when rioters set fire to the Assembly building in Montreal, Morin reportedly took time to adjourn the session before members fled the flames. He helped write the Ninety-Two Resolutions and took part in the Lower Canadian Rebellion. He was elected to the Assembly of Lower Canada, and later to the first parliament of the Province of Canada, where he became Speaker. He was joint premier of Canada from 1851 to 1855. Théophile Hamel painted his portrait in 1854, and he died in 1865.

Théophile Hamel

Théophile Hamel was born in 1817 in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, and studied art in Quebec and in many of the great cultural centres of Europe. He was an astute business man and a tremendously successful artist, and the National Gallery of Canada calls him “one of early Canada’s greatest portrait painters.” In 1853 the government of the United Canadas appointed him official portrait painter, and tasked him with creating portraits of all Speakers since 1791, many of which were copied from portraits held by families or elsewhere. His subjects also included the generals Montcalm and Wolfe, and many other eminent figures of early Canada.